


No Words of Blame

by Daegaer



Category: Eight Days of Luke - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Car Chases, Cars, Friendship, Gen, Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Kidnapping, Magic, Non-Graphic Violence, norse myth - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 18:16:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8855887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: David and Luke agree to sort out a missing person case.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marchpanes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marchpanes/gifts).



> Thank you to my wonderful beta-reader, Puddingcat!

French, David decided, had been invented purely to confuse him. He stared at his homework for another frustrating five minutes, willing the sentences to compose themselves into recognizable grammar. He closed the book and sighed. Astrid liked to reminisce about how much she'd loved French in school; he wished he could be better at it just to make her happy but it seemed beyond him. She'd just have to be happy with him being good at maths and science. He stared idly out of the window, wishing for a game of cricket rather than the conjugation of verbs. He decided to go out, just for a while. Astrid wouldn't be home from work for at least another hour, and wouldn't make dinner for half an hour or so after that. She certainly wouldn't let him go out after dinner, when the evening was dark – it was just sensible to put the homework off for a while. He had the whole weekend to finish it, after all.

At the door of the rooms he paused, seeing a box of matches lying on the little table. He shouldn't, he thought. It had been a long time, and the matches were Astrid's. Before he could persuade himself to leave them, he swept them into his pocket and shot out the door. He clattered down the stairs, his mood lightened considerably. The only drawback was that Alan had a rotten cold and wasn't allowed out of bed by his mother. Still, he had an hour of fresh air and no French ahead, even if he wouldn't have his friend with him. 

It was a dismal afternoon, the sky grey and lowering. David huddled into his coat, shivering in the early spring wind. There was no point in going to the recreation ground, and walking into town seemed a little pointless when he only had spare change in his pocket to spend. He wandered down the road and finally sat on a low wall, looking vacantly at nothing, his hand playing idly with the box of matches in his pocket. They weren't safety matches, he thought, wondering if it was possible to strike them just by shaking the box hard enough. That would be almost an accident.

He took the box out and gave it a good hard shake, but nothing happened except that the matches rattled inside. He went back to staring at nothing, then took a match out, and dragged it slowly along the side of the box. Nothing happened. A dud, he thought in annoyance, flicking it away. He tried with another, to similar lack of effect. Maybe the box was damp? He sighed, trying to convince himself he wasn't disappointed. It had just been too long since he had last done this, well over a year, he decided, and he wasn't in the mood actually to _strike_ a match anyway. He'd sort-of try just once more, then he'd give up. He pulled out his third match and pulled it slowly and lightly along the rough side of the box.

A hand closed over his and quickly and decisively flicked the match along to flare into life.

"You have to do it properly if you want the flame to catch, you know," Luke said, grinning.

David gaped at him. "You – you said I had to strike a match to call you."

"You did strike a match," Luke said. He was half-laughing. "It's about to burn your fingers." He pinched it out theatrically. "See?"

"You came before it was struck!" David said accusingly, though he was grinning now himself.

Luke shrugged, and levered himself up to sit on the wall beside him. "You were whispering my name with those other matches, so I thought I should probably show up," he said. "Anyway, do you really expect _me_ to play by a silly _rule_? One that I made up in the first place?"

"How are you?" David said, for it was suddenly just the best thing in the world, that Luke was simply there, sitting beside him, swinging his legs like a carefree boy. He looked a little older than David, as he always had, his narrow face full of life and mischief.

"Me? Oh, I'm fine. I've been keeping busy. You look well. Is that how we're supposed to talk? People must have become so _boring_. Let's do something interesting."

"Like what?" David said cheerfully. "I should probably be back for dinner – there might not be time for storming any more halls of the gods this evening."

Luke just looked at him, still laughing, then bounced down from the wall. "We'll save that for another day, then," he said. "Dinner! Astrid will make enough for me too, won't she?"

"Of course," David said, happily imagining Luke eating them out of house and home. "Let's go into town – we can catch the bus back."

"Sounds exciting," Luke murmured. "Lead on, my benefactor!"

David laughed, embarrassed, and started walking. He regretted his decision when they reached the shops and saw that some were already starting to close. He had hoped they would be able to wander around looking at ridiculous and expensive things no one in their right minds would want to buy; Luke was sure to have something funny to say in such circumstances. Now, however –

"What a boring town this is," David sighed. "Nothing interesting ever happens here."

"At least you're allowed out in the evenings rather than being imprisoned," Luke said. "Not like in that school you were in; you can't want to be back there, that'd be even more boring. Don't worry, we'll find something to do." 

It was strange, David thought, how wandering around doing nothing had been so enticing when he had been just a little younger and now seemed so pointless. He pulled out the small amount of change he had and wondered if he had enough to buy a bag of chips for Luke and himself to share and still afford the bus fare back. Eating chips would be something to do, at least. 

His attention was suddenly drawn to a flurry of movement on the other side of the road, where a girl was struggling with an older, well-built man. She kicked out at him and shrieked as he shook her like an angry child shaking a doll. A few people looked at them with disapproval clear in their faces, then looked away, making tutting noises.

"Luke, look!" David said, all thoughts of chips and busses forgotten as the tall man dragged the girl to a powerful-looking, shiny black car and bundled her inside as she yelled for help. "I think that girl's being kidnapped!" The car roared away.

"It certainly looks that way," Luke said, as if commenting on something he'd seen in a shop window. "What do you think Astrid's making for dinner?"

"That's not important! Look, we've got to tell the police!"

"Not important?" Luke said, sounding very surprised. "And tell the police what? I don't think they'd be much help, do you? I'm sure that man was her brother, or her husband, or something."

"He couldn't be her husband," David said fervently, "she wasn't any older than us!"

" - Than us," Luke said. He looked down the road after the car. "I suppose you're right. We still can't do anything, it's not our business. Still, it was a bit interesting, wasn't it?"

David looked at him closely. Luke looked unconcerned and - _innocent_ he thought. "Oh, Luke," he said. "Is this something to do with you?"

"What? No. No, of course not. I'm just a witness," Luke said. "Really, David, do you think I'd arrange a kidnapping if I thought you'd be around to get into any possible trouble? Come on, let's go and see if Astrid's home. I'm starving."

Astrid was home, and had brought in food from the supermarket to be heated up. David was relieved that she was happy to see Luke if a little surprised.

"Long time no see," she said. "What have you been up to? Keeping out of mischief?"

Luke just grinned and leaned back in his chair. "I like your new hairstyle," he said. "It makes you look years younger, more like David's sister than ever."

"Oh, you," Astrid said, trying to sound annoyed. "I suppose you're staying for dinner?"

"Yes, please!"

Luke ate three helpings of the lasagne that had been meant to last for two days, as well as two helpings of ice cream and a large slice of cake. He looked wistfully at the rest of the cake as Astrid put it firmly away.

"I wish I could eat like that," she said, watching him and David spoon sugar into their tea.

"Oh, I just burn it off," Luke said merrily. "I can have the rest of the cake tomorrow, can't I?"

"Yes, if you leave a few crumbs for us," she said, giggling.

David smiled at them both, glad to see them happy and wishing he didn't still feel sure that Luke had had something to do with what they had seen in town. When Astrid went to watch television he pulled Luke into his room, determined to discuss the matter.

"What'll we do tomorrow?" Luke said, forestalling him. "You don't have to go to school, do you? We could be together all day."

" _Luke_ ," David said insistently. "That girl –" He saw again the way she had struggled, her cheeks red with effort and her fair hair flying loose from its braid.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Luke said. "Some silly girl in trouble with her family. It's nothing to do with us. Now, would you like to see my doodles? You used to like them."

He turned the light out and hopped onto David's bed, tugging David with him to lie down. A procession of coloured squiggles and dim lights moved in mid-air, drawing David's eye. It was as strange and lovely as it had been when Luke had first shown him, and just as restful. He lay peacefully, watching the moving squiggles and listening to Luke's quiet voice talking about nothing much until he was on the edge of sleep. The last thing he remembered was a hand stroking his hair, and Luke's voice in his ear, whispering, _Call me tomorrow._

* * *

When David woke on Saturday morning he jumped from the bed and immediately struck a match before going to the window to see Luke hoisting himself onto the back wall. He opened the window and leaned out.

"Hello!"

"Hello!" Luke said. "Come down!"

"You come in and have some toast!"

Luke grinned and jumped down into the garden, his eagerness leaving David sure there would be no bread left for Astrid's toast. They'd just have to be gone before she emerged from her room, he decided, quickly pulling on his clothes and then going down to open the door for Luke.

When they had eaten breakfast they set off, leaving only crumbs and smears of marmalade behind to show they had been there. David huddled into his coat and marveled at the way Luke seemed not to notice the thin and chill wind, despite wearing only jeans and a sweatshirt.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked.

"No," Luke said. "I've been colder. This is really very pleasant. Race you to the recreation ground."

Luke won, of course, even though David had the feeling he was holding back to give the impression there was a chance of catching him. He turned at the edge of the recreation ground, to laugh at David and then his face fell and he tried to run again. Out of nowhere Thor took a few long strides and caught him, shaking him by the arm. David sprinted up, alarmed.

"Let him go! Why are you here? You said you'd leave him alone! And," he finished, outraged, "it's _Saturday_."

"I know what day it is," Thor said. "But he's done something even worse this time."

"I haven't! Why does everyone always blame me?" Luke said, furious, as David cried,

"He hasn't! If he says he hasn't I believe him!"

They both stared at him as if he'd said something ridiculous, then Luke reached out and grabbed his wrist.

" _Thank_ you. So few people say anything like that to me."

"I wonder why," Thor said drily. "Look, Luke, it's exactly what you did before. She's gone missing again, and people are worried."

"It's right there," Luke said, nodding at the hammer Thor had hooked over his shoulder. "Since when was it a _she_?"

"Let go of your bodyguard for a moment," Thor said. "Excuse us, David." He pulled Luke away and spoke to him urgently in a low voice. Luke shook his head and seemed annoyed, finally walking back to David.

"It really is nothing to do with me," he said. "Why should I get involved?"

Behind them, Thor scrubbed a hand through his red-gold hair and sighed heavily. "Oh, all right," he said reluctantly. "Please. You always have a plan, and it usually works. I'm asking you as a friend. You sometimes even remember you're supposed to be my friend, don't you?" 

Luke stopped, still facing David. He winked. "I suppose I do often have a plan," he said casually. "And if I had one that worked now, you'd owe me a favour."

Thor groaned. "All right. Fine. I'd owe you a favour."

Luke spun around. "You'd _all_ owe me a favour."

"What? Be serious, I can't agree to that."

"You can talk Wedding around. _And_ the others. That's the deal."

Thor's broad shoulders sagged. "They won't like it; there'll be trouble."

"But not for me," Luke said, sounding like a happy boy, "because _you'll_ be the one talking to them. _I'll_ be the one solving their problem, you just keep reminding everyone of that."

Thor looked harassed and defeated, David thought.

"I'm not the one who can make nonsense sound reasonable," Thor muttered, then, "Fine. All right, Luke, fine. I'll _try_ , is that good enough?"

Luke's face was innocent as he said, "All I've ever asked of anyone is to do their best. I accept your word. Come on, David."

David followed him into the recreation ground. When he looked back Thor was still there, watching them. 

"Luke," he said urgently, "what have you agreed to? It's not going to get you locked up again, is it?"

"No," Luke said genially, with a wave of his hand. "Probably not. David, that girl you saw – what exactly happened at the start? I wasn't really paying attention." 

David's heart sank. He'd _known_ Luke was somehow involved in that, he thought, but now he'd told Thor that he believed in Luke's innocence.

"Well – I heard her shouting," he said. "You know, _Get your hands off me_ and things like that, and when I looked she was fighting with that man. I don't think he _was_ her brother, they didn't look anything like each other, and she really was too young for him to be her husband. Or at least," David finished carefully, "she seemed to be too young."

Luke's expression was pleased, which made David feel both a little worried and warmly happy. 

"I told everyone you were clever," Luke said. "You're far smarter than most of my family and friends. _They_ can't even think up a plan to rescue one silly girl – or they probably could, but it would involve battering down doors and running in and yelling a lot while they smash up the furniture – so they want _us_ to do it. That's something interesting to do, isn’t it?" 

"Yes," David said. "How are we going to do it?"

"Do you have any money for the bus? We should get into town quickly and look at where she was taken." Luke paused and looked at him oddly. "Are you all right? You're looking at me a bit strangely."

"I'm just remembering the way that man shook her," David said quickly. "She was really scared; it worries me."

"Hmmm," Luke said. "Well, you leave the planning to me and there won’t be anything to worry about for long."

* * *

Town was very busy on a Saturday morning, with people hurrying around from shop to shop. Luke and David stood on the street where they had seen the girl being kidnapped and scurried across the road to where the big, black car had been parked.

"He went that way," David said, pointing. "You have to turn left down there, it's a one-way street."

"Yes," Luke said. "But he turned right."

"How do you know? We can't even see the lights from here."

" _I'd_ turn right."

"That's why people our age aren't allowed to drive," David said, and then felt foolish as Luke laughed at him. 

"Come on," Luke said, "we'll have to walk, then."

They strolled down the street, Luke looking around as if he were paying more attention to other people than usual. Suddenly he grabbed David and pulled him into a shop doorway, half hiding behind him.

"Ow," David said, wincing at the tight grasp of Luke's fingers. "What is it?"

"Look, over there," Luke whispered.

A few yards away a gold-coloured, open-top sports car backed into a gap that David would have thought too small for it, its expensive-sounding engine no more than a low purr. The driver adjusted her fashionable scarf and took off her large fashionable sunglasses, and David shrank back against Luke. It was Mrs Fry. She got out and strode purposefully across the road towards a large department store.

"What do you think she wants?" David whispered.

"Make-up to cover the wrinkles, probably," Luke replied. "Quick, quick!"

Before David could think about the fact that indeed Mrs Fry had looked older than he remembered, Luke pulled him from hiding towards the car. He watched in surprise and then horror as Luke vaulted into the driver's seat and crouched down to tug at something under the panel beneath the steering column. He fiddled with the mess of wires he exposed and the engine suddenly coughed into life.

"David," Luke said reasonably, sitting up, "please get in before we attract any more attention."

David looked around wildly, and found a few people beginning to watch them quizzically. Alarmed, he leapt into the car in turn and breathed quickly as Luke struggled to put it in gear, the outraged engine sounding like an entire gang of cats whose tails had been stepped on.

"Can you drive?" David said, as a man pointed at them, and he clearly heard the word _police_.

"How hard can it be?" Luke said, and with that the gearstick obeyed him and he wrenched the wheel around, slamming his foot down on the accelerator. They shot out into the road, narrowly missing a lorry, and careened away. People certainly were pointing now; the car was designed to draw the eye and its erratic path made it all the more noticeable. Being driven by two teenage boys was just the icing on the top, David thought, closing his eyes as Luke swerved to avoid a small child crossing the road.

"It's all right, I'm getting the hang of it," Luke said cheerfully. "I don't think I'll hit anyone unless I want to." He sped up, which seemed impossible. The intersection was very close.

"Luke, a red light means _Stop_ ," David said. "Luke? Luke!"

"Give me your hand," Luke said, holding his hand out, his eyes firmly on the road. "Right now, David." 

David let go of the door handle and grabbed Luke's hand with both of his own. Before them the traffic streamed past, or made a left-hand turn up their road. It was only possible for them to turn left at this intersection in their turn. Luke didn't slow, and didn't attempt to find some impossible gap in the traffic to merge into. Instead he pulled the wheel round to the right, one-handed, with all his strength and the car screeched headlong into the stream of oncoming cars and trucks and busses. David had a split-second view of a taxi-driver and his passengers yelling in horror as they were about to crash, and then Luke was driving fast along a narrow but well-kept road with no shops or houses to be seen. The air was fresh and cool, and the mountains in the near distance made it seem as if they were driving through a nature documentary about the Alps.

"You can let go now," Luke said, retrieving his hand. He shook it as if to relieve cramped fingers. "You're strong as well as clever!"

"Where are we?" David asked, when he was sure his voice wouldn't come out in a squeak.

"Oh, someplace else," Luke said airily. "It would have taken too long to walk here – and I'm not too sure you could have walked here at all. But with transport –" He patted the steering wheel.

"We'll be in so much trouble," David muttered.

"Rubbish! Anyway, Mrs Fry has helped me out with loans before, she won't mind all that much. Have a look in the glove compartment, would you?"

David opened it and poked around. "A few maps and a feather boa, believe it or not," he said.

"Yes!" Luke whooped. "Just like the old days!" He grinned sidelong at David. "Don't look at me like that, they were fun times." He pointed off to one side. "Do you see that grey heap of stones over there? That's where we're going."

"How do you know where to go?" David said, feeling suspicious once more.

"I've been in these parts before. And I recognized that man. Honestly, some people, once they get an idea in their heads – you'd think he'd have learnt his lesson the last time."

"If you know who he is and where he is, why didn't you just tell Thor?" David said. "You wouldn't have had to steal the car, or do any of this."

"What, and have those nincompoops launch a rescue attempt that involves breaking things and shouting? He'd just kill her, you know, as well as a lot of them. Doing it this way is more elegant, and I'll be owed a lot of favours."

He sounded so self-satisfied that David felt quite sick. "Oh, Luke," he said. "You didn't arrange things so that they'd _have_ to ask you, and would be forced to owe you favours, did you?" 

The car rolled slowly and gently to a halt, the engine idling. After a moment, Luke turned to look at David.

"You said you believed me. You said you knew I had nothing to do with this," he said, sounding hurt. "I told you it wasn't anything to do with me, David. I don't lie to you, not to you."

"I'm not trying to upset you," David said, "it's just, well, you like causing trouble, don't you?"

"I wouldn't get _you_ into trouble," Luke said. "You should know that! Is this about me turning left back there? Really, we weren't in any danger, I had it all under control, I was just showing off!"

"What about the other people, though?" David said. "They don't know you. There was a woman with a baby in that taxi, Luke! People were really scared!"

"I don't owe other people anything," Luke said in seeming astonishment. "I didn't hurt anyone, what are you complaining about?"

David found that even though he wanted to stop, all the feelings of suspicion and those of fear gathered up and wouldn't let him. "You could have hurt people. You need to _think_ , Luke."

Luke just looked at him, silently. Then he looked out at the mountains instead. 

"I don't _need_ to do anything," he said. 

He still sounded hurt, and as if he couldn't quite understand why David was upset, but underlying it David could hear the faint edge of annoyance. He'd heard that tone before, he thought. It was the way some teachers were, the ones who were younger than the rest, who could be relied on to be easy-going and good-natured most of the time and yet who sometimes were obviously holding back, wondering why children had to keep asking stupid questions. It stung to hear it from Luke.

"I'm sorry to remind you I'm just some stupid kid," he said bitterly.

Luke grabbed his hands and squeezed, tighter than David had when they went around the corner.

"Don't feel sorry for yourself. If you're annoyed at me, have a go at cursing me. That's what you wanted to do to your family, after all. It shouldn't be hard to do the same to someone you've been ignoring for so long."

David tugged at his hands, but Luke had him in a death grip. When he looked in his face it was pale, the freckles standing out plainly, and no humour at all was in Luke's eyes. He'd offended him, he thought. His immediate petty pleasure in that was wiped out by his natural kindness and reluctance to hurt. He made himself laugh, though it didn't sound all that convincing, and squeezed Luke's hands back.

"No way," he said. "Who knows who I'd free if I tried?"

A slow smile spread over Luke's features. It was very difficult to tell what age he was, David thought. 

"Good," Luke said. "Much better. You're not a stupid child – I'd have given you one reward and forgotten you long ago if you were. Remember, don't waste time feeling sorry for yourself, plan for what you'll do when you're free to act. Or let yourself have a century of moping, but no more, that's just pathetic. Now let's go." He straightened himself up in the seat and started the car moving again, suddenly reaching over to ruffle David's hair. "I owe you so much," he said. "I'll try not to frighten other people, for your sake."

"Give over," David muttered, embarrassed, then, "Luke? Could you do me a favour right now?"

"Anything, oh my benefactor."

"Could you try to act more like a kid?"

"Of course," Luke said cheerfully, sounding far more like himself. He looked young and slyly innocent, and David felt very relieved.

When they got closer to the heap of grey stones it resolved itself into a large stone house, with a paved courtyard in which stood a well and a horse trough. No horses had used the trough for some time, it was clear, for it had been filled with earth and planted with flowers. Luke looked at it and shook his head in disgust.

"Some people just get _old_ ," he muttered. "Come on, David."

"Should we check the barn and those sheds?" David said, pointing at the outbuildings.

Luke looked at them for a moment, then shook his head. "We'll do the main house first. I don't want to _scare_ you –" he grinned. " – but if she's all right she's probably in the house."

David frowned. "What do you mean, _If she's all right_?"

Luke shrugged. "If she's not in the house, David, let me check the barn and sheds by myself, all right? I mean it."

David nodded, although he felt unhappy both that something awful might have happened to the girl and that Luke felt that he needed to protect him from seeing what that was. As the front door and windows were firmly locked, he followed Luke around to the back, where they saw an upstairs window left open.

"Brilliant!" Luke said. "It's even beside a drainpipe! I'll climb up and then I can help you –" he paused. "Actually, I'm not sure what might be in there. You should probably stay out here and keep watch."

"What? No, I don't want to stay out here!"

"It'll be safer," Luke said. "If anything happens, get into the car. Let me try to put the top up for you."

With a sinking feeling David realized that Luke had taken his earlier words to heart and was trying to be thoughtful, and not to put him in danger. If he went along with this, he thought, from now on Luke would not be the same with him, but would see him as someone to protect and take care of. Even though he hadn't called Luke for so long, he found that he couldn't bear the thought of leaving it for the same length of time in the future, or the thought of Luke not treating him as an equal. He really would seem like a child to Luke all his life if he allowed this to start. He had to do something.

"You just want to have all the fun yourself," he said, though the idea of not knowing what might be in the house was alarming. "I've had a lot of practice climbing the ropes in gym class; I'll go up first and help _you_ up."

Luke narrowed his eyes a little, then stepped back. "You probably are better at climbing," he said. "Go on, then."

David looked up at the window. It seemed a lot further up than it had at first sight, but he couldn't back down from a challenge. He took firm hold of the drainpipe, found a toehold for one foot on the edge of a course of stone blocks and for the other on a bracket holding the pipe to the wall, and began to haul himself up. It was a lot harder than he'd expected, and seemed never ending. Luke's soft encouragement from below that he was almost there was, he thought, the most dreadful lie he had ever heard, but then the window sill was in sight and he shakily managed to get a knee onto its broad width.

"Well done!" Luke called from below. "Can you lower something down, or lean down to grab my hand when I climb up?"

"Hang on," David said, and slipped his hands under the edge of the open window, pulling it up. 

Inside he could see a large bedroom, with a high very wide bed jutting out into the centre of the room, and a massive wardrobe standing against one wall. Against the whole length of the other wall was a chest of drawers in a dark wood that matched the wardrobe. David crossed the room quickly to it, thinking to find a sheet faster than stripping the bed, astonished to find that the top of the chest of drawers was level with his chin. He pulled open the bottom drawer and was rewarded with the sight of white sheets in a thick, rough cloth. He pulled one out, pleased at its huge size, and stopped for a moment, thinking he had seen a gleam of something on the dark wood as he stood to shake out the sheet. He stood on the bottom drawer to get a better view and at once his gaze drawn to the only thing on the polished top of the chest of drawers, a small gold bracelet hung with charms of fruit. He thought about the stories he had read about the kind of things that Luke had done in the past, and decided that it was exactly the sort of thing that someone like Luke – or that someone Luke had challenged, however mildly – would pick up. He shoved it into his pocket and went back to the window, letting the sheet dangle down beside the pipe.

"Thanks!" Luke said, grabbing it and hauling himself up as David braced himself against his weight. "Oof,' he added, falling through the window onto the floor and David. 

"The furniture's so big," David whispered. "Look at the size of this sheet!" He pulled it in and left it puddled on the floor.

"He's a giant," Luke said carelessly. "He's not all _that_ big," he added, as David blinked in shock. "He does know magic, though. A lot of giants do."

"OK," David said, as there didn't seem to be anything else to say. "We shouldn't attract his attention."

Luke shook his head, and held up his hand, snapping his fingers. A bright flame flashed into life around his fingertips, its brightest edge pointing towards the door.

"Obviously," Luke muttered, "come on." They stepped cautiously out into the hall, seeing other doors standing open. "She won't be in those," Luke said, as David peered curiously into a giant-sized bathroom, marveling at the size of the bath and the rolls of toilet paper. "He'll have locked her somewhere." 

The flame on his hand flickered, pointing towards the stairs, and they crept downwards, step by step. The house was silent and empty, the sitting room having one chair that showed signs of regular use and others that looked very new. The dining room had a long table, with a place set at either end, although the utensils at one end seemed old and well-used and those at the other brand new.

"Do you think that means she's alive?" David whispered.

"Yes," Luke said triumphantly. "He's probably just –" He stopped whatever he had been about to say. "He probably hasn't done too much to her," he said. The flame surrounding his fingers insistently flickered towards the door at the end of the corridor, a heavy, thick door that had an obviously new bolt fitted. 

"This looks promising," Luke said, "give me a boost up."

David linked his hands together and boosted Luke up to more easily pull at the bolt. They took turns working at it, gradually easing it back with some effort. 

Inside was a large and old-fashioned kitchen, a range standing against one wall, and ugly kitchen dressers against another. A long table ran down the centre of the room, its surface marked with years of use. The food prepared here, David thought, would be as brown and unpleasant as anything Mrs Thirsk could ever have made for his cousins. He took a deep relieved breath to see the girl behind the table, a wary look on her face. She was holding a heavy piece of firewood in her hand like a club.

"Let me go," she started, then frowned. "Luke?"

"Hello, Edie," Luke said. "We're here to rescue you."

"I knew you were behind this!" she said in exasperation, throwing the wood down. "Just leave me alone!"

"I'm not!" Luke said as David said,

"He's not!"

Edie made a frustrated noise and folded her arms. "Who's _that?_ And why have you brought a child along?"

"Don't you remember David?" Luke said. "He's the one who freed me –" He grinned at the sound of disgust Edie made. " –and he's the one who found Thor's hammer. He's really clever, why _wouldn't_ I bring him along?"

Edie shook her head. "You're just here because it suits your own purposes. I'm going nowhere with you."

"It's me or no one," Luke said. "Come along, or enjoy life with your giant boyfriend."

"Edie?" David said, looking at her more closely. "What happened to your eye? You didn't have that when we saw you being pushed into the car."

She turned away, as if hoping to hide the bruises from them. "He didn't like something I said," she said after a moment, her voice dark with anger.

David was outraged. It didn't matter in the slightest, he thought, that Edie was a person like Luke. She looked just like a girl of his own age, and for someone the size of her kidnapper to have hit her like that must have been frightening and painful.

"I'd like to give him a taste of his own medicine," he said, and then blushed at his own foolishness, to have said such a thing about a giant to people like Luke and Edie. They didn't laugh at him, however, just regarded him with an odd sort of approval.

"Where do you find these people?" Edie said, and then sat down slowly, in a way that made David think that maybe she hadn't just been hit across the face. "He'll be back soon, you should go. He went out to catch a fish for supper. I'm meant to have the oven heated and ready for it."

"Hmm," Luke said, looking towards the enormous range.

Edie laughed a little. "Don't think you'll get him the same way twice. You'd need a new plan. Just go; I can't leave, he's taken my apples."

"Ah, yes," Luke said. "Thor did say something really important had been stolen. Let's start looking."

"Um," David said, thinking of how everything in the house was large, and how the bracelet he had taken was, instead, sized to fit the wrist of a girl such as Edie, "Are your apples made of gold, by any chance?"

"Yes," Edie said. "They're on a bracelet." She looked at him in dawning hope.

"This one?" He pulled it out of his pocket.

Luke whooped in triumph as Edie's eyes widened and she began to smile. 

"You see how clever he is?" Luke said. "Just brilliant!"

David helped Edie fasten the bracelet on her wrist, embarrassed by the way she looked up from it with the start of tears in her eyes.

"Get me out of here, please, Luke," she said.

* * *

The car started again with only a few complaints as Luke fiddled with the loose wiring, and then they set off out of the courtyard and down the mountain road. The day was still bright, and it was very pleasant to drive along, especially as Luke had by now got the hang of changing the gears.

"Isn't this Mrs Fry's car?" Edie said, leaning forward from the back seat.

"Yes, we borrowed it," Luke said carelessly.

"Does she know?"

"By now, I'd imagine she does."

"David," Edie said seriously, "Luke is a very bad influence. You should try not to listen to him."

"He means well," David said loyally.

"I'm keeping you," Luke laughed. He sped up on the narrow winding road, the wind blowing his reddish hair back wildly. "Uh-oh," he said suddenly, and spun the wheel.

David gasped, grabbing for the door-handle, unsure what was happening. He had an impression of movement and heard squealing brakes and tyres on gravel. Looking up he saw a huge black motorbike come to a halt beside them, its rider obviously having wrenched it aside to avoid them. He had an impression of the rider beginning to straighten up, a very tall, well-built figure in black biker's leathers, the helmet's visor dark and forbidding. Then Luke stamped down hard on the accelerator and they were shooting away as the figure behind yelled something that could have been " _Luke! You -_ " The rest was lost to the wind.

"Hurry!" Edie said frantically. "Can't you go faster? He'll come after us!"

"We have a head start," Luke said. "I can outrun him."

"No, you can't," Edie said. "You couldn't before, and you can't now – he's _fast_."

David looked back. There was no sign of anyone behind them. "You can, can't you?" he said. "Or if you can't, you have another idea?"

"That's it, have a little faith," Luke said. "I hear it can move mountains. Which would be a handy trick, given where we are." He lowered his voice. "I'm just hoping we have enough fuel to outrun him _and_ get you home again."

"Oh," David said. He stared at his hands, clenched white on the door-handle, and back out at the mountains. "What happens to me if you can't?"

"It's not so bad here," Luke said. "I'll look after you, promise."

David nodded, trying to push thoughts of Astrid and school, and Alan and cricket and all the other things of ordinary, everyday life out of his head. They seemed very important right then, and he knew if he thought about them at all he'd be no use to Luke or Edie. He told himself he should remember to take a breath, and found he had been gasping for air as if someone had held him underwater. 

"What," he said, and found he had the strength to say the rest of it, "what do you need me to do?"

"He's coming!" Edie said in horror, half-rising to put a knee on the seat and look behind them. 

David twisted around and saw the motorcycle coming up fast, sunlight glinting on the chrome of the handlebars. The rider was crouched low, reaching out with one hand as if he could somehow grasp the car. Instead he made a gesture and the car slowed, as if it had been seized and pulled backwards.

"Luke!" David shouted.

"Both of you, sit _down!_ " Luke yelled, looking in the rear-view mirror. "David – David, listen. Open the glove compartment – good, get out that feather boa and give it here. Now, on the count of three, you're going to slide over into the driver's seat and you're going to get Edie out of here. Understand?"

"What?" David said, looking at the feathery heap lying in Luke's lap. "What do you mean? How will we both fit? What are you going to do?"

"One," Luke said, one hand on the wheel and the boa in the other. "This is what I need, David. Two, _three_ \- "

He was gone, the driver's seat suddenly empty. David leapt across, terrified, catching his leg on the gear-stick and knocking them down a gear as he did so, the engine shrieking in fury like an army of outraged cats. _Clutch-accelerator-brake, don't step on the wrong one!_ , David thought frantically, pressing down on the middle pedal. The car immediately slowed with a howling complaint from the engine. _Oh, blast_ , David thought, _Clutch–brake-accelerator!_ He managed to get the car moving faster again, though the engine's complaints at being forced to speed up in the wrong gear just got louder and louder.

"Oh, well done, Luke!" Edie cried, precariously on her knees again to look back.

"What's happening?" David yelled.

"Look in the mirror!"

He risked taking his eyes from the road to look in the mirror. The motorcycle, which had come very close to them as they slowed, had now stopped as the rider fended off the attack of a furious hawk that stooped on him again and again. The shiny black helmet was scratched and pitted by its claws, and the rider's leather jacket showed rips in the sleeves where he tried to fend off the attack. David fixed his eyes back on the winding road and kept driving, his hands as tight on the wheel as they had been on the door-handle.

"Was that _Luke?_ " he said at last.

"Of course. Why else did you give him Mrs Fry's feather boa?"

David found he had no answer, and drove on for several more minutes until he heard, quite clearly, his name being called. He cautiously pushed on the brake until the car rolled to a stop and the engine made a final complaint, coughed and stalled, the car juddering under them. In the silence, David realized he had been mistaken, he had somehow heard the cry of a hawk that hung overhead. It stooped all at once, right at the car, and then Luke was sitting in the passenger seat, breathless and laughing as he folded up the feather boa.

"I'd forgotten how much fun that was," he said cheerfully. "Want to try, David?"

"Maybe another time," David said. "After we get Edie back safely."

"I'm glad one of you is sensible enough not to take a break in the middle of a rescue mission," Edie said, sounding amused. "I think you might be a good influence on Luke, David."

"What a horrible thing to say about my friend," Luke said. "Want me to take over the driving again?"

"Yes, _please_ ," David said in relief. He got out of the car and Luke slid back into the driver's seat to fiddle about with the wiring and get the engine started again. David stretched and looked around at the mountains, shining in the clear air. Now that they were no longer being chased it was very clear how quiet it was, the only sounds apart from the car and their voices were that of birdsong and the wind. It was very beautiful, he thought, and very empty of people.

"Is there enough petrol to get back?" he said quietly.

"I think so," Luke said. "And if there isn't – don't you worry. I've got contacts. Come on, let's be off. We don't need to drive like maniacs, I slashed his tyres. He'd have to go back for a car."

There was no pursuit as they drove lower and lower. When it seemed that they really were safe Edie leant forwards and started a riddle game that David found he couldn't understand at all, though she and Luke seemed to enjoy playing it. He found himself laughing along, finding it funny that people like them should be so pleased by making silly puns. He sat up as he saw several houses, and people going about their business.

"I think we should go back to town by a less noticeable route," Luke said, the car speeding past the little village before David had much more than an impression of women in long dresses and men with beards and braided hair. The next houses looked far more familiar, and then Luke pulled out from a side road onto the road from which they had taken the car, easing into a gap in the traffic with a skill he had not possessed at the start of their drive. A driver in the car beside them blinked in surprise at the sight of a car driven and filled entirely with young teenagers, making them all giggle.

"Look, you could let me out over there," Edie said, pointing to a spot where a van had just left the kerb.

"That's almost exactly where the car was parked," David said.

"Funny how these things work out," Luke said, satisfied. He pulled into the parking space. "Quick, duck!" He and David ducked down as they saw Mrs Fry emerge from a shop and stand on the pavement, hands on hips, looking up and down the street.

"I'll deal with her," Edie said. She leaned over the front seats. "Thank you, Luke. Thank you too, David. Don't trust him at all." She quickly kissed each of them on the cheek. "Luke, I've left something for you on the back seat."

She climbed out of the car and sprinted towards Mrs Fry, waving frantically. 

"Mrs Fry! Mrs Fry!"

Mrs Fry gaped at her, then smiled beatifically, her hair shining as the last rays of the sun suddenly hit her. "Edie, darling! We were all so worried!"

As they embraced, Luke reached back to grab something up, then jumped out of the car. "Come on!"

David ran by his side until they were safely out of sight. When they had reached a slightly dingy small park, little more than an oddly-shaped area of dusty grass with a few trees and some benches, Luke flopped down to sit and opened his hand to display his prize. It was a yellow apple with a bright sheen, and the most appley fragrance that David had ever smelled. 

"Oh, Edie," Luke said. "You really are far too good-hearted." He lifted the apple to his lips, his eyes closed in anticipation, then stopped. He opened his eyes and held it out to David. "Have a bite."

"I don't really like golden delicious apples," David said, although the smell of the apple was intoxicating.

"Oh, you'll like this. Go on."

"Should I? I mean, Edie left it for you."

"I want to share it with you. You're exactly the sort of person I think needs to have some of this."

David steadied Luke's hand with his own and took a healthy bite of the apple. It was the best apple he'd ever had. He felt wide awake and ready to go and rescue trapped girls all over again. Luke grinned and took a bite, then held it out again. They ate it, bite by bite between them until only the core was left, and Luke ate that, seeds and all. He spat the final seed into his hand and held it out.

"Plant this in your garden and see what grows."

"What will grow?" David said, feeling his blood fizzing within his veins, and thinking he was not the sort of person who had been meant to eat any of the apple at all.

"Who knows?" Luke said. "It'll be interesting for you and me to find out though, won't it?" He slung a friendly arm around David's shoulder. "Don't you want to find out?"

David smiled. He did.

**Author's Note:**

> The story took the myth of Loki being forced by the giant Þjazi to help him kidnap Iðunn as inspiration. Loki eventually rescues Iðunn in the myth as well.
> 
>  
> 
> The title is taken from Iðunn's lines in the poem _Lokasenna_ , where she tries to calm the gods down when Loki starts drunkenly insulting them, and refuses to rise to his provocation, first asking her husband not to respond and then herself vowing that _I'm not saying words of blame to Loki_. Here, of course, she _does_ blame Luke at first - well, he does have form . . .


End file.
